LinkedIn is a powerful platform for building your professional network and sharing insights. One of the key features of LinkedIn is the ability to easily share posts with your connections. However, not all LinkedIn posts are automatically shareable. Here’s what you need to know about making your LinkedIn posts shareable.
What does it mean to make a post shareable?
A shareable LinkedIn post has a share icon that allows your connections to easily share the original post with their own networks. When a post is shareable, it helps expand the reach of your content and build your personal brand. Non-shareable posts lack this share icon, limiting their distribution.
By default, standard LinkedIn text updates and articles are not shareable. To make them shareable, you need to adjust your settings. There are two main options for making LinkedIn posts shareable:
- Publishing as a LinkedIn article
- Publishing as a LinkedIn Long-form post
Both of these options enable the share icon for your posts.
How to make a standard text post shareable
If you want to make one of your regular text-based posts shareable, you have two options:
Convert it to an article post
The simplest way is to update the post and convert it to an article. Here’s how:
- Go to your LinkedIn post and click the three dots in the top right corner.
- Select “Update post.”
- Choose the option to “Change post to article.”
- This will open the article editor. You can leave the content as-is.
- Click “Publish article.”
Once published as an article, the share icon will automatically appear. This allows anyone viewing the post to share it easily.
Publish as a long-form post
The other option is to publish the post as a Long-form post. To do this:
- Again, go to the post and click “Update post.”
- Select the option to “Change post format to long-form post.”
- This will convert it to a long-form post with the share icon enabled.
- Click “Publish” to save the changes.
The main difference between an article and long-form post is that long-form supports text formatting like bold, italics, bulleted lists, etc. But both formats enable sharing.
How to make new shareable posts
When composing new LinkedIn posts, you can proactively make them shareable right from the start. Here are tips for two post types:
New article posts
To create a shareable article:
- Go to the LinkedIn post editor.
- Click the pencil icon to start a new article.
- Add your article title and text as usual.
- Once finished, click “Publish article” to post it.
Articles are always shareable. So no other action is needed.
New long-form posts
To create a shareable long-form post:
- In the post editor, click “Long-form post.”
- Compose your content with text formatting as desired.
- When complete, click “Publish” to share the long-form post.
The share icon will automatically display on published long-form posts.
Tips for widely shared LinkedIn posts
Now that you know how to make your LinkedIn posts shareable, here are some tips to help them get widely shared:
- Provide valuable insights. Posts that teach readers something useful tend to get more shares.
- Use an eye-catching title. Titles that create curiosity or emotion draw readers in to share.
- Leverage multimedia. Posts with images, infographics, or video often get higher sharing.
- Pay attention to timing. Look at when your audience is most active on LinkedIn to optimize sharing.
- Promote your post. Let your network know about your shareable post through additional LinkedIn activity or other channels.
It also helps to monitor your most-shared posts and identify what resonates with your audience. You can then refine your approach over time.
Shareable post ideas
To inspire you, here are some potential ideas for highly shareable LinkedIn posts:
- Career or industry advice
- Behind-the-scenes company insights
- Relevant news commentary
- Recent conference or event takeaways
- Expert tips and how-to articles
- Inspirational business quotes or stories
- Job or career search tips
- Professional development advice
- Industry trends analysis
- Successful business strategies or case studies
Experiment with these ideas and topics that resonate with your professional community. The more value you consistently provide, the more shares your content will earn.
Benefits of shareable LinkedIn posts
There are many benefits to focusing on shareable content. Here are just a few:
- Increased reach: Sharing exponentially expands the number of people who see your posts.
- Improved engagement: When people reshare content, it often leads to more likes, comments, and connections.
- Enhanced influence: Shared posts position you as an industry thought leader.
- Reinforced credibility: When your content gets reshared, it serves as third-party validation.
- Expanded networking: Sharing provides exposure to new professional contacts.
- More profile visits: Shared posts drive traffic back to your LinkedIn profile.
While it does take time to create valuable shareable content, the benefits make it well worth the effort for boosting your personal brand and reach.
Conclusion
Every LinkedIn user can benefit from creating shareable posts. By publishing either articles or long-form posts, you make it easy for others to pass on your content. This expands your professional network and influence. Use engaging titles, compelling insights, multimedia, and smart timing to encourage shares. With consistent sharable content, you can position yourself as a thought leader and grow your reputation and reach on this powerful platform.
